Not the Rajah’s idea of a bridge.
NEWSPAPERS have been full of good news this week: more new bridges for Sarawak!
Never mind who funds which bridges – federal or Sarawak government. At the end of the day, the money for their construction comes from the taxpayers. The bridges belong to us all.
Some bridges planned during the colonial era were built during the early years of Malaysia; a few of them were funded by the Australian government under the auspices of the Colombo Plan.
When all these new bridges are completed, all the districts in Sarawak will be connected with one another by road. This connectivity is vital for accelerated economic development of rural Sarawak. With the penetration of internet connection to the interior of the state, the politicians will have no more excuse for being unable to implement more income-generating projects.
I can’t wait to cross Sungai Rambungan, Batang Lupar, Batang Saribas, Batang Rajang, Muara Lassa, Jepak-Kemena, and Batang Paloh without having to use a ferry.
All bridges are important. One bridge – the rejuvenated suspension bridge at Satok – is good mainly for tourism purposes. It’s actually of low priority in terms of bringing urgent physical development ‘across river’. That part of Kuching has had more than its fair share of infrastructural development already.
New suspension bridge
Last week the new version of the unfortunate suspension bridge was in the news for the wrong reasons. One of the anchor blocks was seen to be tilting! Was it designed, we wondered, to attract tourists like the Leaning Tower of Pisa does to the visitors to Italy?
Members of the main media were all ready to cover the opening ceremony scheduled for next Tuesday – Malaysia Day. Looks like they will have to wait for another day when the leaning pillar is put upright and the bridge declared fit for pedestrian use.
This is the second version of the Satok Suspension Bridge, which was originally opened in 1926. The main function of the bridge was to carry water pipelines from the Reservoir at the foot of the Mount Matang, across the Sarawak River, to the consumers in Kuching proper.
Rajah’s plan shelved
According to a local historian, the proposal to build a bridge across the Sarawak River was mooted as early as 1902, at the time when the Matang Reservoir was being planned.
The story is that when an engineer from the Public Works Department submitted a design of a suspension bridge, the old Rajah Charles strongly objected to the plan, arguing that such a bridge would sway and the joints of the water pipes would break.
Instead, His Highness had his own idea of building a bridge. He was thinking of taking stones from Sejingkat and piling them up at five spots marked at intervals on a straight line from bank to bank.
On these piles of rocks, the water pipes supported by iron structure and timber walkway would be laid from bank to bank.
The engineers though all agreed politely (Rajah Charles was a cantankerous old fellow by that time) that his design was physically impossible to implement.
The project was suspended. It was revisited only after his death in 1917. The director of Public Works Department was CP Lowe. He gave the job of designing and constructing the suspension bridge to his brother.
Jokingly, I asked my informant, Mat, whether the project was tendered out to the public?
“Neh ada,” Mat replied.
He added that when the bridge was under construction, a labourer fell off the worksite and drowned.
What Mat did not tell me was that rumours of penyamun (headhunting) were circulating like wild fire in the villages in Kuching at the time of the construction of the bridge. It is said that a human head was required to protect and strengthen the pillars. Fake news it was, but many people apparently believed such a thing at the time.
Even the new, improved bridge had some problems. When water was first released from the reservoir at Matang, the whole structure started to sway and vibrate. Hastily shutting off the water flow, the engineers piled another lot of rocks on top of the support plinths supporting the pylons.
Second try, the bridge held up … for 70 over years.
However, in 1992, that bridge began to get dangerously wobbly; it had to be closed to the public. And on Oct 7, 2004, during a violent storm, the Jambatan Gantung (hanging bridge) collapsed with a big splash!
While it lasted, it had well served practically those pedestrians who lived on both banks of the river. Bicycles were allowed to use it; later, motorcycles too. In 1950, I was in a group of boys led by a policeman, Kaseh Taha, to cut timber for firewood from the jungle at Samariang. On the way home, we pushed our bikes with the logs tied to the bikes. The police families at Badruddin Barracks were using firewood as fuel for cooking at the time. This jungle across river was a source of their cooking fuel.
The suspension bridge was a favourite rendezvous for lovers; the other meeting place was the Museum Garden.
A Malay quatrain recorded by Maimunah Daud runs like this:
“Kedarat belomba kuda,
Ke Satok Jambatan Gantung,
Bilaku lihat paras kekanda,
Hati beramuk dengan jantung.”
(“Upcountry to watch the horse races
To Satok to visit the suspension bridge
When I behold you dear, full of grace,
My heart beats faster and will not be at rest.”).
This is Maimunah’s translation from her book ‘The Romance of Sarawak Malay Pantun’ (www.sarawakceritalah.com).
There must be many more tales about the bridge.
Musicians from the Constabulary Band practised blowing their trumpets and saxophones from that bridge while the band master was listening from the riverbank to ensure the sound was loud enough. Musicians in those days didn’t use sissy stuff like loudspeakers!
A minstrel used to play his mouth organ on moonlit nights; the most popular tune at the time was the ‘Terang Bulan’, the tune on which our national anthem ‘Negaraku’ is based.
Mat said to me, “Did you know that when the Sarawak football team got into the Malaysia Cup semi-finals, Awang Mahyan, the well-known coach for the Sarawak team and the one who coined the catchy slogan ‘Ngap Sayot’, celebrated his team’s victory by jumping off the Satok Bridge?”
Who else jumped from the bridge?
When the new suspension bridge is safe for use by everybody, I hope it will last longer than its predecessor (1926 to 2004).
No one should try to jump off it, for fun or any other reason. There may be crocodiles down there!
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